ONTARIO, CAN. (THECOUNT) — After announcing a new round of chemo treatments while battling pancreatic cancer, Alex Trebek is hinting that his long tenure as host of “Jeopardy!” may be nearing an end.
Trebek told CTV he has begun to get sores inside his mouth from the chemotherapy, which makes it difficult to enunciate. He sometimes hears himself slurring his words on the quiz show, he said.
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“I will keep doing it (the show) as long as my skills do not diminish, and they have started to diminish,” he told CTV’s Lisa LaFlamme in an interview Friday, reports WGNTV.
The host recently pledged to donate an additional $2.1 million to the University of Ottawa alumnus, bringing the total donated so far to $9.5 million, reports say on Saturday.
The contribution came on the same day the host updated fans on his undergoing of a second round of chemo treatments.
The funds will allow the university to expand the global reach and impact of the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue.
The donation now raises Trebek’s total financial commitment to the university to $9.5 million.
The Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue was created in 2016 as a platform to discuss issues affecting Canadians. The funds will support projects by 12 research institutes and centres working on complex problems facing Canada and the world, such as how to transition to a green economy, prepare for aging societies and build inclusive and durable democracies.
“The Forum for Dialogue is an essential platform for a university like uOttawa: it provides students with meaningful learning experiences, it encourages discussion and debate, and it showcases the university’s renowned experts and its ideal location in the Canadian capital,” says Trebek, adding that, “It gives students the unique opportunity to grow and learn outside the classroom by listening to some of the most prominent researchers, professionals and dignitaries in Canada, and that is truly important.”
Over the years, Trebek’s funding has led to the inauguration of the Alex Trebek Alumni Hall and to the Alex Trebek Distinguished Lecture Series in 2015. Two years later, in 2017, his $5 million endowment created the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue, reports OwattaMatters.
“We are most grateful for the support and the friendship that Alex Trebek has shown the University of Ottawa over the years,” says the university’s president and vice-chancellor, Jacques Fremont. “The Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue offers our institution the opportunity to create and cultivate a first-class platform to discuss and debate on important provincial, national and international issues, and his new gift will help bolster the impact that it will have.”
Trebek received a degree in philosophy from the University of Ottawa before going into broadcasting to cover national news and special events for radio and television. In 1996, he was given an honorary doctorate and in 1998, he received the Meritas Tabaret Award for Alumni Achievement.
Geo quick facts: Ontario is a province in east-central Canada that borders the U.S. and the Great Lakes. It’s home to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, known for Parliament Hill’s Victorian architecture and the National Gallery, featuring Canadian and indigenous art. Toronto, Ontario’s capital, is home to the 553m-high CN Tower, with expansive views from its revolving restaurant, as well as High Park, site of a rare oak savannah habitat – wikipedia.